Nothing quite says May 2026 was disappointing for the Albion than Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones being voted WAB Brighton Player of the Month.
Three defeats in four games saw faint Champions League qualification hopes disappear. Then Europa League football went with them. Leaving the Seagulls in the Conference League for 2026-27 season – although only just.
If Brentford had won away at Liverpool on the final day of the campaign, the Bees would have overtaken Brighton to finish eighth.
Leaving the Albion out of Europe altogether and undoing all the hard work of March and April, where the Albion had done magnificently to get a season which was fast heading off the rails back on track.
Thankfully, it finished 1-1 at Anfield. Jones was the reason why as he netted in front of the Kop from a Mo Salah pass to put Liverpool 1-0 ahead.
The Redmen only led for a little more than five minutes before Kevin Schade equalised. But that was it in terms of the scoring.
Brighton will play European football for only the second time in their history via a helping hand from Jones, which is subsequently enough to see him take WAB May 2026 Player of the Month with 26.15 percent of the vote.
Second spot went to Pascal Gross, who seemed to be one of the few Albion players who realised the importance of games against 1996 Coca Cola Cup runners up The Leeds United and Manchester United.
Victory in either match would have guaranteed a top seven finish and Europa League qualification at the very least. Gross appeared to be a on a one-man mission to deliver it at Elland Road, particularly in a superb first half performance.
Der Kaiser was only stopped from breaking the deadlock by an excellent, full stretch Karl Darlow save. Gross also helped Brighton create another 18 shots against the Peacocks.
The finishing of his teammates and a horrific blind back pass in the 96th minute from Jan Paul van Hecke meant Brighton came away from Leeds empty handed.
Just 1.54 percent of the vote separated Jones and Gross. An extremely tight top three was rounded off by Maxim De Cuyper, only another 2.08 percent behind Gross.
De Cuyper had not started a Premier League game since the shambolic 1-0 defeat against Crystal Palace on Sunday 8th February until coming into the side for the second game of May 2026 against Wolves at the Amex.
The Belgian left back was in no mood to hang around in terms of showing Fabian Hurzeler what Brighton had been missing.
Two assists inside the opening five minutes meant the Albion had effectively secured three points before some fans were even in their seats.
De Cuyper needed under 40 seconds to send over a cross from the left headed home by Jack Hinshelwood for the first. He then delivered a pinpoint in-swinging corner from the right which Lewis Dunk powered home at the back post.
WeAreBrighton.com May 2026 Brighton Player of the Month – The Results
Curtis Jones – 26.15%
Pascal Gross – 24.61%/li>
Maxim De Cuyper – 21.53%
Jack Hinshelwood – 16.92%
Yankuba Minteh – 6.15%
Ferdi Kadioglu – 4.61%
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